A thoroughbred horse trainer has been sentenced to spend three months in prison for rigging races at Penn National Race Course in Grantville. David J. Wells, 50, of Grantville, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to five years intermediate punishment with the first three months in prison followed by three months confinement in the prisonâs work release center, according to U.S. Attorney Peter Smith.
Looking for an unfair win in horse racing
Wells' sentencing came more than a year after he, two other trainers and a track employee were arrested following a probe by state and Dauphin County officials and the FBI.
Wells admitted in court last year that between 2009 and 2013 he gave drugs to horses he trained and raced to give them an advantage. He said he was fully aware that drugging the horses violated Pennsylvania law and the rules and regulations of horse racing.
Wells and Daniel Robertson, the official clocker at Penn National, were indicted in November 2013. Robertson, of Hershey, allegedly provided false times in exchange for cash from Wells. He pleaded guilty federal wire fraud charges in July.
Under the sentencethat county Judge Deborah E. Curcillo imposed Monday morning, David Wells will follow his jail stint with a 3-month stay in the county work-release center followed by 4 1/2 years on probation. In addition, Curcillo fined the 50-year-old Grantville man $5,000.
Defense attorney Jerry Russo argued, in vain, for a probation term, like the sentence another Penn National trainer received several years ago following a county probe into horse doping at the East Hanover Township track. Wells' career is already in a shambles, Russo argued, and his trainer's license has been revoked by the state.
Wells' sentencing came more than a year after he, two other trainers and a track employee were arrested following a probe by state and Dauphin County officials and the FBI. All were originally charged in federal court.